Full transparency: I had already decided on this week’s topic, when I accidentally came across an article entitled “Did Avraham Have a Daughter?” - https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/399547 Thankfully, my research did not include the author’s main source (Rav Hirsch) so here we go.
Parshat Chayei Sarah
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein (in his Tosefes Bracha) notes the passage in Yevamos 62a that the mitzvah of reproducing (פרו ורבו) is to have a son and a daughter (according to one opinion) – so the parents essentially replace themselves. Avraham focuses on finding a wife for Yitzchak, which based on his analysis (which includes Baba Basra 141a, Bereshis Rabba 60, and Tosefta Bechoros chapter 6) that a wifeless father should usually find a wife for himself before concerning himself with his son finding a wife, unless he has already fulfilled the mitzvah of פרו ורבו. Therefore, the only way Avraham could concern himself with finding a bride for Yitzchak is if he, in fact, had a daughter as well – thus there is good reason to believe he had a daughter, even though the text makes no mention of one.
As noted here Seforno is of the opinion, based on Divrei HaYamim I 1:28 that Avraham only had two sons, Yishmael and Yitzchak, and that the 6 children of Keturah (ibid 1:32 and Bereshit 25:2) were hers from a previous union. Seforno describes Avraham as “raising her children” as he compares the situation to Michal bat Shaul being credited with giving birth to 5 children to Adriel (her sister’s husband) (Shmuel II 21:8), while a different verse tells us Michal never had children (Shmuel II 6:23)! Just as she raised her sister’s children that she didn’t birth, Avraham raised Keturah’s children that he did not father.
Before we even get to chapter 25 in Chayei Sarah, however, we are told at the beginning of chapter 24 that וה' ברך את אברהם בכל – God blessed Avraham בכל (typically translated as “with all” or “with everything”). The blessing of כל is a strange language, because it is highly unspecific. Obviously Avraham was not gifted all the wealth of the world. He couldn’t have been given “everything.” Perhaps it could mean he was given all he needed. Ibn Ezra notes he was given long life, wealth, honor, children – which is what makes for a “complete” life. Ramban expands on that noting that all he was missing was grandchildren so he put the steps in order to find a bride for his son.
Rashi notes that the word בכל has a numerical value (gematria) of 52, which is the same as בן, a son. This would imply that having Yitzchak is a fulfillment of the blessing being described.
The Talmudic discussion on this verse (Baba Batra 16b – an expansion of the passage noted above by Rabbi Epstein) is recorded by Ramban and Rabbenu Bachaye, and while the Talmud goes on to give other interpretations of what Avraham was blessed with, we’ll focus on the discussion surrounding how the blessing of בכל relates to children: Rabbi Meir says the blessing of כל is that he did not have a daughter. Rabbi Yehuda says he did have a daughter. Acherim said he had a daughter and her name was בכל (Bakol).
Ramban explains their thinking. Rabbi Meir understood that had there been a daughter she’d have to be married to the cursed Canaanites. And even were she to find a husband from his homeland, she’d undoubtedly only find herself attached to idolators, since the woman would follow the husband’s lead, and so Avraham was complete in not having a daughter, because of the challenges that would have posed to her at that specific time in history. Rabbi Yehuda felt he nonetheless had a daughter, because that is the complete blessing for parents, to minimally have a son and a daughter. Acherim gave her a name, based on the verse.
To quote Rabbenu Bachaye, “Ramban explained the deeper meaning [of Acherim’s interpretation], and expanded upon it far more than necessary…”
Rabbenu Bachaye explained Acherim’s perspective in this way: They’re not teaching us whether he had a daughter or didn’t have a daughter. It’s not talking about a physical matter. It is a matter of the soul or spirit.
Based on Kabbalah, Avraham achieved a “middah” (quality) that is called כל, and anyone who achieves that is blessed in heaven and earth. When Acherim said he had a בת, what they meant was he had a quality, based on the word בת in the verse which describes the measurement of the Temple’s washbasin - אלפים בת יכיל – which means it contained two thousand measures. He had a “middah” (בת), and its name was בכל, and its from the larger blessing of הכל which God gave him. בת references the Bet Din of God. When it says וה' ברך, rather than ויברך ה' (two different ways of suggesting God blessed…) it refers to a kind of spiritual gift, rather than a physical one.
As he notes, however, Ramban expands upon this significantly, noting the following (translation from Sefaria, which is the translation of Rabbi Chavel). Even though Rabbenu Bachaye says he overdid it, it’s worth looking at.
“Acheirim established a new interpretation on this verse, a very profound matter, and they explained with it one of the secrets of the Torah. Thus they said that the word bakol hints at a great matter, namely, that the Holy One, blessed be He, has an attribute called Kol (All), so called because it is the foundation of everything. It is with reference to this attribute that it says, I am the Eternal that maketh ‘Kol’ (all). And this is also what Scripture says, And the profit of the earth is ‘bakol’ (in all), that is to say, the profit of the earth and the abundant goodness that is bestowed upon all that come into the world is on account of this attribute Kol. It is the eighth attribute of the thirteen attributes. And there is another attribute called bat [literally “daughter”] that emanates from it, and with it He moves everything. This is “the Court of the Holy One, blessed be He,” that is hinted at in the word, Vahashem (And the Eternal), in all places. It is called kalah (bride) in the book of The Song of Songs because it is comprised of hakol (the All), and it is this attribute which the Sages have surnamed Knesseth Yisrael (the assembly of Israel) in many places because it is the gathering of hakol (the All). It was this attribute which was to Abraham as a bat (בת) because he was the man of kindness, and he conducted himself in accordance with it. This was why Acheirim said that this blessing with which Abraham had been blessed in all things does not allude either to his having begotten a daughter from his wife Sarah, as Rabbi Yehudah said, or not, as Rabbi Meir claimed, but instead it hints at a great matter, i.e., that he was blessed with an attribute called bat (בת) which is contained in the attribute Kol, and is therefore also called Kol, being analogous to the expression, For My name is in him. Thus Abraham was blessed in heaven and on earth. This is why he said, By the Eternal, the G-d of heaven and the G-d of the earth.”
Owing to there really being no evidence in the text or the narrative of the Torah of Avraham having a daughter, and the likelihood that it was the Bris Milah, and the Bris Milah alone, which allowed for Avraham to have a single child with Sarah, and afterwards that same possibility dwindled, with Avraham being described as having aged, the view that the Talmud’s presentation of a בת meaning something other than a daughter, as kabbalistically explained by Ramban, makes a lot of sense. So why would R Yehuda or Acheirim even make the suggestion? Perhaps they thought people would understand the reference, and that the בת in question was a symbol of the experience of the lifetime of Avraham Avinu.
We can certainly chime in on the debate as to whether Avraham had a daughter. If he did, for all purposes she is lost to our history. Either way, nothing changes, except the question of whether Avraham fulfilled his mitzvah of פרו ורבו. Since whether people have children is in God’s hands, the Talmudic sentiment of whether one fulfilled the mitzvah is not about a number of children, or how many males or females. It is rather best answered with one of the questions noted in the Talmud Shabbos 31a as to what a person will be asked at the heavenly tribunal – “Did you involve yourself in reproducing?” In other words, “Did you marry and try? Did you make an effort?” The Talmud is not saying one will be asked “What was your result?”
Because, after all, the effort is in the human realm. But the Talmud (Niddah 31a) notes there is a third partner in the creation of a human being, God. And arguably, God is the deciding factor.
For Avraham and Sarah, they certainly involved themselves, and they were singularly blessed with Yitzchak at a very late stage of life through a very serious intervention by God. Whether or not there was a daughter, they could admirably answer the question of “Did you involve yourself…” with a resounding “Yes. We made the effort, and the rest was in God’s hands.”
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